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NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE

CHARMING CHARLESTON

WILDLIFE ADVENTURES IN FLORIDA AMAZING ALASKA COLORADO’S PLUS SUMMERTIME SURPRISES A SPECIAL FEATURE ON AMERICA’S FUNKY FESTIVALS NATIONAL PARKS FREE GUIDES TO: l UTAH l THE REAL AMERICA l THE GREAT LAKES l SHOP AMERICA l ESSENTIALLY CANADA CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA’S SOUTHERN BELLE

IF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, WERE TO BE CAST AS A CHARACTER in Gone With The Wind, she would definitely be Scarlett O’Hara ... beautiful, strong willed, entrepreneurial and a real survivor, writes Mary Moore Mason, herself born and bred in the South. Left ‘too poor to paint and too proud to whitewash’ by the ravages of the – which began on April 12, 1861 when hot-headed local Confederates fired on Union- held Fort Sumter on an island in its harbour – Charleston was forced to retain its wealth of beautiful antebellum buildings rather than replacing them, as did many other cities, with the elaborate Victorian-era structures of the late-19th TOP Drayton Hall, Set on a peninsula between the Ashley and century. And after being hit by a major earthquake just to the north of Cooper rivers – both flowing into a large harbour Charleston, is America’s in 1886, which damaged nearly 2,000 buildings, and then the Atlantic – the small, compact city of oldest unrestored she structurally strengthened them against such a plantation about 130,000 residents can easily be explored future occurrence, again making the best of a bad by foot, pedicab, and harbour boat tours, some thing. (Visions of a penniless Scarlett resplendent stopping at Fort Sumter. My personal preference ABOVE RIGHT An in a gown made of her velvet curtains springs to ideal way to tour the is via a horse-drawn carriage propelled by a driver mind.) city is by horse-drawn who is full of local lore. Along the city’s quiet In so-doing, Charleston, along with her carriage streets, shaded by huge, Spanish-moss-veiled Southern soul sisters, Savannah and New oak trees and sweetly-scented magnolias, are Orleans, became one of the three major Graces the grand town houses of the cotton and rice of Southern architectural heritage ... a place that barons whose fortune came from plantations everyone fascinated by the Old South should visit. outside town. Other structures include the

www.essentiallyamerica.com Spring/Summer 2016 |15 antebellum urban villa, the Edmonston-Alston House, with its beautiful views of the harbour from three piazzas, and the Nathaniel Russell House, completed in 1808 and renowned for its magnificent, free-flying staircase. Among the city’s oldest building are the early18th-century Powder House and the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, where American patriots were held prisoners during the American War of Independence. The city is also home to the College of Charleston, founded in 1770 and the oldest municipal college in America, and the impressive Citadel military college, sometimes referred to as ‘The West Point of the South’. The city’s low-rise skyline is also dramatised by the spires of numerous historic churches. Among them are the oldest Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches in the Carolinas, the oldest Baptist church in the South, the South’s mother Lutheran church, the fourth-oldest synagogue in the USA, a late-18th-century church built for both enslaved and freed African Americans, and early-19th-century churches built by Scottish and French Huguenot immigrants, Children are catered to by the South Carolina Aquarium, the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, and Charles Towne Landing, a family attraction on the site of the first (1670) English settlement in South Carolina. Located about five minutes’ drive from downtown on Old Towne Road, it includes an animal forest. the replica of a 17th-century sailing ship and living-history displays.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS FOR THEATRE AND ART LOVERS parade of pastel-coloured cottages, known as ABOVE Chalmers Theatre lovers should check out the Dock Street Rainbow Row, which reputedly featured in Porgy, Street is known for Theatre, built in Georgian style on the site of local author Dubose Heyward’s saga of local its cobblestones and one of America’s first (1736) theatres and the colourfully-painted African-American life, which was the inspiration homes hub of the annual summer Spoleto Festival for George Gershwin’s bitter-sweet opera Porgy USA, which features theatre, opera, dance and and Bess. Even today, local African-American music at theatres, churches and outdoor venues BELOW Shopping for women sell their traditional and valued sweetgrass art at Old City Market throughout the city. And shoppers will find it hard baskets on street corners and in colourful Old City to tear themselves away from King Street, which Market, fronted by the Confederate Museum. is lined with elegant shops and galleries The Charleston Museum claims that sell jewellery, household ornaments, to be the oldest in America and the clothing, antiques and artwork, including Gibbes Museum of Art to contain one paintings, some of them by South of the finest collections of American Carolina artists. art in the South-East. The Old Slave If you head north, you can enjoy Mart Museum explores the harrowing the lovely Riverfront Park and the story of the slave trade that enriched Old Charleston Navy Base, home to many of the area plantations prior to the the Confederates’ H L Hunley, the Civil War. But for many, the best insight first submarine to sink an enemy into the historic lifestyle of Charleston is warship. Raised from local waters in found within the elegant homes that are 2000, it can be visited on Saturdays. open to the public. They range from the Continue by bridge across the pre-Revolutionary War period cottage of Cooper River and you have several local cabinetmaker Thomas Elfe and the choices: the Patriot Point Naval & Heyward-Washington House – one-time Maritime Museum – where you can residence of a signer of The Declaration clamber aboard the World War II of Independence – to the Aiken-Rhett USS Yorktown aircraft carrier – the House (circa 1818), the city’s most-intact charming town of Mount Pleasant,

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Boone Hall Plantation (the main house is not restaurants per capita here than in the majority original but has been built in antebellum style of US cities. Many focus on such South Carolina but the original slave cabins still exist), and Lowcountry specialities as She Crab soup, shrimp the beaches of Sullivan’s Island, also home to and grits, crab cakes, corn bread, tomato pie, war-era Fort Moultrie, and oyster pie and okra soup, but don’t miss out on the Isle of Palms, also home to the Wild Dunes delicious deserts such as mud (chocolate) and BELOW A focal point resort. of Middleton Place’s 65 pecan pies and memorable cocktails. And if you However, the main excursion point for many acres of gardens is its want to see where it all comes from, visit the visitors is across the Ashley River and along the butterfly-shaped lake Saturday Farmer’s Market in pretty Marion Square. River Road to yet more plantations. Magnolia Plantation & Gardens (www.magnoliaplantation. com) boasts America’s oldest gardens (circa 1680) and a pre-Revolutionary War home, and the claim to fame for Middleton Place (www. middletonplace.org) is not only its house museum, set in a handsome 1755 structure, but its 65 acres of gardens, the oldest landscaped ones in America and including an unusual, butterfly-shaped lake. Drayton Hall www.( draytonhall.org), America’s oldest unrestored plantation, has a particularly poignant history. It is said that it only escaped demolition by rampaging Union troops because the mistress of the house (another Scarlett) had notices put up around the plantation’s perimeters claiming (falsely) that everyone within its boundaries was suffering from the plague. And, as I am mentioning Scarlett again, Charlestonians seem to have taken to heart her fervent vow when suffering near-starvation during the Civil War – “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!” There appear to be more excellent

GETTING THERE: Although there are no direct For a unique experience, consider the John Rutledge House TRAVEL flights to Charleston, there are connections via Inn (www.johnrutledgehouseinn.com), built in 1763 and Delta Air Lines (www.delta.com, 0871 221 the only home of a signer of the American Declaration of NOTES 1222) over such cities as Atlanta and New Independence accommodating overnight guests; if more of a York, American Airlines (www.aa.com, 0844 369 9899) over cutting-edge, artsy venue is your preference, then check out Charlotte, and United (www.united.com, 020 8276 6900) The Vendue Inn (www.thevendue.com), housed in several over Washington, DC, and Newark. converted 18th-century warehouses on Vendue Range in the heart of the Historic French Quarter Art District and full of GETTING AROUND: You don’t really need a car as it’s easy original art works. to reach most places by foot, local transport, and – farther afield – by general and special-interest tours. DINING OUT: Here’s just a sampling: East Bay Street’s Slightly North of Broad (www.snobcharleston.com), which WHEN TO GO: Charleston has a pleasant climate year-round calls itself ‘an eclectic Lowcountry bistro’ and features such although it can be very hot and humid in the summer. An ideal specialities as butternut squash bisque, Carolina quail and time to visit is during the March/April Festival of Houses and shrimp and grits; McCrady’s (www.mccradysrestaurant. Gardens (www.historiccharleston.org/events/annual- com), a Unity Alley extension of the 1778 tavern that held a festival-of-houses-and-gardens.aspx), the Spoleto USA gala dinner for first US President . It shares Festival (May 27-June 12 this year; www.spoletousa.org) its James Beard award-winning chef with Husk on Queen and the Fall Tours of Homes and Gardens (October 6-30, Street (www.huskrestaurant.com) – both are known for www.thefalltours.org). their food sourced from Southern farms, handcrafted cocktails STAYING OVERNIGHT: The city has a wealth of historic and impressive wine lists. Circa 1886 (www.circa1886.com), and often charming hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts. an AAA four-Diamond establishment set on the grounds of the Among them are two Meeting Street hotels: Belmond Wentworth Mansion, offers such treats as Carolina flounder, Charleston Place (www.belmond.com/charleston-place/ curried heart of palm, pecan-pie bread pudding and banana- luxury-hotel), centrally located and including a pool and split ice cream sandwiches, and the Charleston Grill spa, and the atmospheric Mills House Wyndham Grand (www.charlestongrill.com), located on lively King Street, (www.millshouse.com), originally opened in 1853 and combines Southern, French and contemporary cuisine with totally restored in 2014, and Wentworth Street’s opulent nightly live jazz. Wentworth Mansion (www.wentworthmansion.com), FURTHER INFORMATION: www.explorecharleston.com voted Travel & Leisure’s Number 1 Small, City Hotel last year. www.essentiallyamerica.com Spring/Summer 2016 |17